Billionaire Warren Buffett Calls For More Taxes On The Rich

Billionaire super-investor Warren Buffett called for more taxes on the rich in an editorial written for the NYTimes.

The Chairman and Chief Executive of Berkshire Hathaway, Buffett, revealed his own tax rate in the piece — the amount of income that he pays —and how it is far below his co-workers, thanks to how investment income is taxed at lower rates.

Here’s an excerpt from the piece:

While the poor and middle class fight for us in Afghanistan, and while most Americans struggle to make ends meet, we mega-rich continue to get our extraordinary tax breaks. Some of us are investment managers who earn billions from our daily labors but are allowed to classify our income as “carried interest,” thereby getting a bargain 15 percent tax rate. Others own stock index futures for 10 minutes and have 60 percent of their gain taxed at 15 percent, as if they’d been long-term investors.

These and other blessings are showered upon us by legislators in Washington who feel compelled to protect us, much as if we were spotted owls or some other endangered species. It’s nice to have friends in high places.

Last year, Buffet’s tax bill was $6,938,744. He only paid 17.4 percent of his taxable income, while there were people in his own office whose tax burdens ranged from 20 to 40 percent.